


Race for the Iris - Aftermath

by Potkanka



Category: Tomb Raider (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Tomb Raider The Last Revelation, mentions of blood and mild injuries, original timeline, teenage Lara Croft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 23:23:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15695475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Potkanka/pseuds/Potkanka
Summary: "Hold on, I'm coming back to get you!" Lara Croft called at Werner von Croy that fateful day in Cambodia. This is a "missing scene" about Lara indeed coming back to get him. Or at least trying to do so.Takes place directly after theRace for the Irisending cutscene.





	Race for the Iris - Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> Naming a fic is always an ordeal for me, so this title isn't very imaginative - but at least it's clear and descriptive.
> 
> Writing teenage Lara is so different from the adult one - she's already very capable but at the same time so inexperienced. I think I should write more of her...

Lara pushed herself to her feet with a groan, her scraped knees and elbows only barely registering as she turned back to the temple remains. It was eerily silent now, dust slowly setting on every surface.

She walked towards the ruins, cautious of any cracks that could send her down into unpredictable darkness, and maybe there was nothing like that below her feet but she couldn't know. She didn't have such knowledge of the Angkor Wat complex, and the one who had…

“Werner?” Lara called without really expecting an answer. She didn't get any.

Still filled with adrenaline, Lara started looking around the ruined entrance, hoping to find some way in, a hole to squeeze though – after all, they had already determined that she could slip through places Werner couldn't, so her way in didn't necessarily mean his way out.

That is, if he was in a condition to even try.

Lara shook her head. He wouldn't be badly hurt. She hoped. Maybe slightly hurt. She could admit she wouldn't mind Werner's ego receiving a little blow after his dismissal of her warnings.

She remembered the globe closing around Werner as everything started to shake. If any rubble fell on it, the globe would either protect Werner or break to allow him a chance to escape. Either way, he would probably get the Iris and Lara's heart skipped a beat at the thought. She would love to see that strange artefact up close, to hold it in her hands…

A cranny between the still standing wall and some rubble caught her attention. It was more narrow than looked comfortable, but the best she had found so far. She squinted into the darkness inside.

“The things I do for you, old man. You better appreciate it.”

She squeezed herself in, leaving bloody smears from her knees and elbows. Her hands trailed every portion of the passageway to check for stability as she went. She could still back out, as long as the path back was clear – the path ahead not leading to a dead end was much less sure.

Several metres in she found herself at a crossroad, the rubble offering her two different ways.

“Brilliant,” she commented. Both seemed stable enough and finally she chose the right one, hissing when she cut her palm on a sharp stone.

“Am I earning my keep yet, Werner?” Lara chirped innocently. “I'll be taking the Iris as a bonus, if you don't mind terribly.”

It took another ten minutes or so before the feared dead end stopped Lara in her tracks. She didn't dare move a stone and accidentally bury herself, so she started on an equally slow crawl back, feet first, adrenalin decreasing and some annoyance finally creeping into her mood. But there was still the other way and it was surprising to her to have found any way in at all, so she suppressed any frustration and focused on expectations about the second path in the crossroad.

It was half an hour later, possibly more, when she crawled out of the rubble, much more scratched and dirty than when she had gone in, and squinted at the daylight after the time in complete darkness.

In the end, the second path had been about as helpful as the first one.

When Lara's eyes got used to seeing again, she went to try finding another way in, most of her enthusiasm scraped away with the first failure. Walking around but not far away from the crumbled part of the temple, she finally decided to get more aggressive and pulled on a piece of brick that would hopefully cause a chain reaction.

Slowly.

Carefully.

When she picked herself up from a frantic scramble and looked back at the newly created clouds of dust, she had to admit her expectations of the amount of rubble that would come loose had been a little… miscalculated. But she had managed to run away before the small avalanche of rock and debris buried her, so all was well.

And the shadowy hole left behind looked rather hopeful. If really quite dark. Why-

Looking around, the slowly lengthening shadows warned her of the upcoming evening. Without carrying any source of light of her own, the search would soon become truly impossible.

It felt even more like a failure to turn back now and bring help, but she didn't have much of a choice. Spending the night here and continuing in the morning wasn't particularly appealing with no equipment and no food. Werner would just have to wait.

Lara sighed and glanced over the rubble that had not been there just half a day ago, then started to slowly walk away. A loud crack under her foot gave her a brief scare that the ground really was crumbling beneath her, but it was just a piece of wood. Or not?

She picked it up, recognizing an old wooden torch. Maybe… if she had a light, she could still continue. She plunged her hand into one of her pockets. So maybe she wasn't entirely without equipment, just not the kind one would imagine was enough for staying outside all night. She still had some essentials, matches being among them. Lighting one up, she quickly lit the torch. She knew in theory how to make a fire with materials found in nature, but had never really had the opportunity to do so. Maybe after this, she would practice some basic survival skills.

Straightening herself, she lifted the torch higher and stepped into the opening among the rubble.

A large stone fell from the ceiling in front of her and she gasped in surprise, hopping back. It wasn't entirely stable then. She _should_ turn back. Her parents would want her to. Maybe even Werner, maybe he'd  be able to tell if this was just too dangerous.

But the whole point of doing this was that he wasn't here.

Lara huffed, squared her shoulders and once again stepped inside. The path wasn't very even and soon she found herself climbing over piles of rubble and larger pieces of wall. The next obstacle was more vertical than horizontal, the destruction hitting this area even worse, which, Lara supposed, meant that she was going in the right direction. The torch gripped tightly with her teeth, she used both hands to scale the debris upwards, slipping back several times as the crushed stone came loose under her feet.

Lara growled a bit with effort as he started up for the third time, she could see the opening higher up and wasn't going to give up until she found out if it offered a way forward.

She reached a relatively stable spot about halfway  through and took a little breather. She lifted the torch to explore her surroundings  up close , but  was faced merely with  rather detailed destruction all around. Well, the earthquake when Werner reached for the Iris  ha dn't seem ed like a coincidence. If the whole structure was  set to fall apart in case someone tried to take the artefact, it would make sense for the  destruction to be rather thorough.

But what did that mean for Werner?

Lara huffed and put the torch back between her teeth – the flame facing the other side this time, the heat  had been getting uncomfortable – and continued on her way.

Her left hand reached the opening first, her scratched and abused fingers feeling around for a handle.  She brushed a rough piece of stone, tugging it a few times before letting it carry her whole weight as she pulled herself up, ignoring the burning muscles in her arm.

It was spacious enough up there, a small uneven platform she could lie on and catch her breath. She moved the torch back to her hand, noting the indents left by her teeth. Rather randomly, it reminded her of her biology lessons, where they learnt that chewing muscles were the strongest in  the  human body. Well, she  certainly wouldn't  have  mind ed her jaws do ing the heavy lifting for a while.

Sitting up, Lara shook out her hands and rolled her shoulders. She was definitely going to be sore later. More sore than now. But she couldn't get distracted yet. She looked to the right, where her path continued, and felt both relief and exhaustion when she realized it lead forward with enough space for her to walk in a crouched position. Ah, maybe she felt a little excited too.

With renewed curiosity and returned breath, she continued, torch in her hand for now as she crept through a short tunnel and-

Lara pulled her foot back, a few pieces of stone crumbling down ahead of her. She lowered the torch to see better, and took notice that this was the only way to go on, to lower herself into a descending, debris-lined hole. The debris was what worried her the most. She had had a hard time crawling up earlier on a similar slope, but this looked even more unstable.

No matter. She wasn't backing down now.

“I'm coming back to get you,” Lara murmured an echo of her earlier words with gritted teeth and lowered herself into the opening.

The rubble gave way immediately and with a surprised yelp Lara slid down several metres before falling forward and landing on a much smoother ground, the torch falling from her hand and rolling a few paces.  Lara reached for it quickly, then blinked several times to realize what she was seeing.  Mainly, that she  _was_ seeing, torch or no torch .

After all, the globe had an unnatural greenish light coming from the hollow be neath it.

P icking herself up, Lara made a few unsteady steps forward,  her steps the only sound breaking the silence . Apart from several larger pieces of the ceiling lying around and the caved-in exit, everything looked remarkably like when they entered the chamber for the first time.  The globe was even rotating once again, making the only sound in the room. So the destruction didn't necessarily mean that the one who discovered Iris would be buried here.

Werner had to still be inside the globe. Lara tried to listen for any sounds coming from it.

“Werner?” Lara finally called when the silence stretched on. Hearing nothing from the inside didn't have to mean he wasn't capable of answering…

Still, he didn't.

“Werner?!” Lara tried again, now standing at the edge right before the hollow. Silence.

“Don't worry! I'll get you out in a moment!” Lara called in the end. Then she added: “Be prepared to thank me wholeheartedly,” and walked towards one of the levers, hoping the mechanism was undamaged.

She pulled the lever, kicking a stone under the handle to keep it in position,  moved to the other side of the room, and  with bated breath gripped the second lever.

It worked. No nasty surprises for now!

The globe stopped rotating and with a hissing sound began to open.

Lara jogged to the unfurling bridge, ready to run across and drag Werner away before anything could happen, but with one foot on the wooden plank, she froze.

There was… no-one. And nothing.

Werner and the Iris were gone.

“Werner?” Lara called, looking the whole contraption over, searching the depths of the hollow too. She couldn't climb down there, whatever was the glowing part, she really didn't want to risk touching that. Not to mention that even if that was safe, it would be quite impossible to climb back up…

Climb back up! Lara whipped her head towards the way she came. She had known how slippery it was, but she… Ah, she expected to find Werner, who would find a way out, simple as that.

Too much expectations, too much optimism, too much relying on someone else. Why had she thought it was a good idea to depend on such an uncertain outcome.

( _Or maybe just depend on Werner_ , a voice whispered from the back of her mind.)

She shook her head and tried to focus. Two objectives: Find Werner. Get out.

Unlikely as it was, she was going to look around a bit more and try to find the man. Lara sighed, gripped the torch in determination and began to thoroughly search the ruins. She couldn't go back the way they raced here, that part was caved in, but the chamber was still large enough and littered with debris to offer a challenge.

It was maybe twenty minutes later when Lara's stomach growled. She sighed, annoyed by the sound and by the realization of her hunger that it brought her. She glanced around once more. She'd looked through everything! Or she thought so. She was quite certain.

Werner just… disappeared.

The crackle of the torch brought Lara another bad news – her personal source of light wouldn't stay for long. She should have put it out when she had come here. Another mistake to avoid next time.

Maybe… she could spend the night here, it must be dark outside anyway. And tomorrow she would climb out, get to the town and find people who'd help her search for Werner.

But wherever he was, was it wise to wait? Maybe he needed help right now.

Lara's nagging thoughts that he sure would deserve to wait were suffocated by concern. True concern, now that she really didn't know of his condition or whereabouts. She had been assured that he could get out of anything, even without her help, but with no signs of him, she wasn't so sure anymore.

Oh, but what if he was already outside, safe and whole, while Lara was crawling around here like a fool.

Get to the town to search for help for hurt Werner or get outside to find Werner waiting here. Whatever option was correct, both demanded her to climb out, and preferably as soon as possible.

Lara walked to the slide made of dry debris and rubble and cracked her neck. She was tired, hungry, dirty and bruised and had a limited amount of time before her torch burned out.

Complaining, complaining, Werner would ridicule her for it.

The image of Werner standing outside uninjured and put together, with the Iris in his hand and a smug expression, lit fire in Lara's veins.

“Don't congratulate yourself just yet, Werner.”

Lara started to climb, feet slipping. Sometimes she managed to catch herself a bit higher only for another piece of rubble to come loose and plunge her down again – not very far down, luckily. Or unluckily, considering it means she was getting _nowhere._

But the image of Werner all smug – oh the image of Werner being the one bringing help to get Lara out instead, that smarted. Even though he was technically the one supposed to take care of her, Lara has managed enough by herself today that relying on help now just felt unimaginable.

Knowing that trying the same thing over and over again was foolish, Lara finally put out the torch, saving it for later, and took a bit of time to think this through.

All exits were caved in. This one was no, but didn't allow her to climb up. She could try to get rid of the crumbling rubble, maybe there was some more stable rocks beneath it. But how long would that take? Maybe a little earthquake could shake it off – or shake it up, shake up everything, offer her new way to try to escape!

Lara whirled around to the globe. Who was to say the trap wouldn't work a second time?

Lara replayed the moments before she had escaped. Werner had walked to the plinth, and the ground had started shaking before he'd even touched the Iris. So it had reacted simply to someone standing there? There had also been enough time to run back before the walkway collapsed, Werner would have managed easily if he hadn't fallen and got his foot snagged.

Frowning with determination, Lara walked back to the walkway, and very much aware that everyone she know would consider this a very stupid idea, she stepped on it and continued forward.

As she reached the last plank, she paused. She didn't know the exact trigger, but assumed it required standing on the platform in the middle, as she had already stepped on the bridge before and nothing happened. Taking a deep breath, she bent her knees, prepared to move quickly, then jumped forward on the platform, turning mid-air to land with her back to the plinth and sprinting back over the bridge onto the stony ground. Judging by the first time, she didn't have to hurry so much, but better safe than-

She gasped and rolled out of the way of a piece of ceiling, falling just as the ground started to shake. Lara danced around with her eyes upwards, monitoring the unstable and crumbling structure  as she avoided the fragments of death raining from above. She had to believe the floor would stay whole, and anyway, falling into a crevice still sounded less deadly than having a stone fall on her head. Still she could admit that picking a hiding place beforehand might have been a good idea.

W hen the tremors subsided, Lara took a moment to sit down and catch her breath before exploring her remodelled surroundings. Some changes were hopeful, but overall nothing would let her out. Maybe… it just needed  one more little push.

Little did she know she was going to set off the trap four more times before an exit presented itself.

* * *

It was several hours later, with the sun set long ago, when Lara stumbled into the nearby town.

She hadn't seen Werner anywhere on the way back.

Entering the small hotel they had spent the previous night, she – dirty, tired, bruised, scratched, bloody in several places and with a possibly fractured rib when she didn't avoid one falling rock fast enough – quickly explained the situation. Without mentioning any artefact, obviously. She didn't want anyone to get too curious, that one was _hers_. But asking someone to climb into unstable ruins in the middle of the night  was apparently not reasonable, or so they told her. Maybe if she had some money to offer, she wondered. A lot more money than she had on herself. But merely promises of payment were not enough.

The receptionist she was talking to suggested she bathed and got some sleep. It was… tempting. But the failure despite her efforts still gnawed at her. Finally, she decided to at least call home. She had promised to do so as soon as possible – or Werner had,  _but well…_

She would act as if everything was fine. She would deal with this herself and return home alongside Werner with none the wiser.

It was evening in Britain, so she expected at least someone was up. Still, it was a relief to hear the voice of their butler rather her mother or father. Those would be worried no matter what. With Winston, she could speak more plainly.

“Winston! I am glad to hear you. Are you doing well?”

“Oh Lara, that is something I should ask you. Are you safe?”

Lara couldn't help the fond smile spreading on her face. “You worry too much. Of course I am safe. Werner is here with me.”

There was a  meaningful pause. “Is he?”

How could Winston know? “Why would he not?” Lara answered carefully.

“I have not told your parents yet, as to not worry them, but...”

“Yes?” Lara leaned forward in anticipation.

“There was a call from Vienna,” Winston started slowly. “Werner von Croy has been found in his flat hours ago, unconscious and with an injured leg.”

Lara inhaled sharply. “Did they find anything on him?! Something he didn't have when he left?!”

“They didn't tell me any details, only that he is now receiving medical care,” Lara could almost see Winston shaking his head. “But you have something in particular in mind, don't you? You know what happened?”

“I...” Lara debated what to say over the phone. “Maybe. We can talk later. I will book a flight home for tomorrow morning, please don't tell my parents anything, only that I called – no, that Werner called – and we are both fine.”

Winston sighed. “Very well. Please take care of yourself.”

“I will,” Lara grinned and nodded. “I'll make sure nothing happens to me.” She hung up, her smile turning eager. “This artefact sure is interesting… hold on to it for me, Werner, this race is _not_ over yet. ”

**Author's Note:**

> I very much enjoy the theory that the Iris is a teleportation device. I'm not sure if I believe it (I interpret that part in Chronicles as the Iris being merely the power source), but it's definitely fun to play with, with much fanfiction potential. ;)


End file.
